Friday night, September 2nd – I fell asleep around 12:30-1:00 AM, then woke up at 3:10 with a contraction that sent me to the bathroom. I went back to bed and tried to sleep through the rest of the night, but couldn’t sleep due to contractions. During this time I listened to my Birthing Day Affirmations, and went to the bathroom several times. I finally got up at 6 AM and went downstairs for awhile. I read birth stories on the internet until almost 7:00, then went back upstairs to try to sleep again. I thought maybe the baby wasn’t in a good birthing position, so I lifted up on my belly during contractions to try and help baby position better. The contractions were strong in the back and crampy, but not consistent in timing or length.

At 7:15 Nelson’s alarm went off and I asked him to check me – he measured his fingers and we decided that I was over 4 cm dilated, maybe close to 5 cm, and quite a bit effaced although he couldn’t tell how much. I called my midwife, her instructions were to eat a meal, take 2000 mg calcium, take a shower, and then try to take a nap. The calcium would either let me take a nap or help me go into active labor. I also called the rest of my birthing team – they are all going to go to church but be on call if I need them to leave.

At 8:15 AM I ate 3 fried eggs and a glass of milk. I had to force myself to finish the eggs because I didn’t feel like eating. I listened to Birthing Affirmations again while typing and eating. Nelson went to get calcium from Mom because we’re out.

After eating, I went upstairs, took a shower, and then asked Nelson to start getting the room ready for the birth. I wasn’t sure how soon the baby would be born, but I knew it could go fast once labor got started, so I felt better having things done. Nelson cleaned the bathroom and rearranged the bedroom for the birth pool, then blew up the birth pool in its place. I also had my daughter Courtney fetch several things for me and make the bed with our extra sheets. Courtney was very happy to be asked to help! I had her time contractions for about 45 minutes starting just after 9:30 AM. They were only 2-3 minutes apart, but not very long and sporadic in strength. However, because they were pretty close together, and because I was using Hypnobabies and felt it was really helping, I decided to call Alisa and the rest of my birth team at about 10:10 AM to ask them to come. Alisa said she would come soon, but we decided to wait to have Jennifer come until Alisa got here and could check my progress.

People started arriving at about 10:30 or so – every few minutes for over an hour. Alisa called to make sure I was okay, because she had been delayed slightly, and then arrived at about 11:45 or so. During that time I also had my 3 sons come up to say hello to me, and told them I probably wouldn’t see them again until after the birth. My daughter Brianna also came up to join us after Mom arrived to take care of the other little ones downstairs. Because of all of this commotion, my contractions got even more sporadic and spaced out somewhat. I began to worry that I had jumped the gun in calling everyone, and apologized to all of them as they came up to greet me. Of course they all said it was okay, and not to worry.

For all of the above time period, I had felt better walking around my bedroom rather than sitting or lying down. During contractions I lifted my belly, which felt really good and made me feel very comfortable. I was not feeling any pain during the contractions, just pressure which extended around to my back, which I recognized from my previous births. I had not had any bloody show earlier in the morning, but I did start having that sometime in the midmorning. Also during this time, I was listening to the Birthing Affirmations track in my headphones, but oftentimes in only one ear so that I could hear and interact with the others in the room.

After Alisa arrived, she took her time in filling out the paperwork and asking me the necessary questions. There wasn’t any hurry since my contractions had spaced out to anywhere from 2-6 minutes and weren’t strong at all. Somewhere around 12:30, I had her check my cervix to see if I was making any progress. I was 4 cm dilated, completely effaced, soft & stretchy cervix, and the baby was at a -1 station. Alisa said that I was right on the edge of active labor, and she suggested that I lie down and try to take a nap. I had already been wanting to have some quiet time to get back into my Hypnobabies tracks, I felt that my labor had lessened because of all of the visitors and commotion. So everyone went downstairs to eat lunch and left me by myself for awhile.

I laid down on the bed and started listening to my Easy First Stage track. It was very relaxing and brought a lot of peace back to my mind. I was not able to go to sleep, and after a few minutes I noticed that the contractions were picking up in strength again. After awhile I had to go to the bathroom, and Nelson came up to check on me when he heard me walking around. I asked him to stay and he laid down next to me. My back was to him, but he kept his head very close to my head and his closeness was very comforting. He started using the massager on my back during the contractions, and that felt really good. Later he told me that he was praying for my labor to get going, he knew that I was anxious and felt bad for everyone waiting on me downstairs. He told me to say “Peace” at the beginning of each contraction to give me the comfort I needed as well as give him the signal to start massaging. He informally kept track of the timing and length of the contractions by watching our digital clock. They started out only about 45 seconds long, but after awhile they progressed to well over a minute long, and they were also getting more intense with much more pressure. I asked him to go and get Alisa, and she came back and asked if she should call Jennifer to come. I could barely answer her at this point, they were getting very strong – but I told her yes. It turns out that it was a good thing she called then, or Jennifer wouldn’t have made it!

I had been ignoring the need to get up and go to the bathroom again for a few contractions, because I knew that the trip would be hard and make it more difficult to maintain my relaxation and hypnosis. So just when a contraction came and I thought to myself “I have to get up right after this one” I lost control of my bladder! I was very embarrassed and apologized several times. Nelson was right there with me and assured me that it was okay, and everyone in the room also told me that it was okay for me to go in the bed. I hadn’t even realized that they were all back in the room yet. Once my bladder was empty I noticed immediately that the contraction intensity lessened and I was much more comfortable again. I kept listening to Hypnobabies and after 2-3 more contractions my bladder emptied itself again. I had been very well hydrated! During this time Nelson had been filling up the birth pool, and thankfully said that I could get in.

I got in the birth pool about 2:30 PM, and it felt so good! I asked someone to start my Easy First Stage track on the CD player rather than the headphones. Nelson, Courtney, Brianna, Keyla, and Alisa gathered around me, and starting affirming what they heard the lady saying on the CD. I really appreciated hearing each one of their voices. Nelson kept talking me through each contraction like I had been asking him to do for awhile. Courtney held my hand and quoted several scriptures for me. Brianna also quoted Philippians 4:13 and touched me softly. Keyla prayed out loud for me. I was saying “Ooooh” softly through each contraction. I continued saying “Peace” at the beginning of each contraction, and everyone said it along with me.

The contractions built up in intensity again after a few minutes, and I started feeling the familiar desire to escape. Right at the end I said a few things like “I just need a break” and “I want it to be over.” I knew that feeling this way meant that it was almost time to push the baby out, but I didn’t realize how soon it really was. Jennifer arrived sometime during the last few minutes, and when Alisa told me she was here I felt glad and said “Good.” During one contraction I felt a little urge to push, and then I asked Alisa if I could push next time. She said I could if my body told me to, and sure enough, in the next contraction I got a strong urge to push, groaned, and the water broke – followed by the baby’s head and body coming out all in one big push! Nelson and Keyla had switched places a few minutes prior to this, because Nelson wanted to catch the baby again. The time of birth was 3:08 PM. I saw Nelson peek under the umbilical cord as he brought the baby up out of the water, and I wanted to know right away what he had seen. But the cord was very short, so I reached down underneath the cord and felt with my fingers. What a surprise – it was a girl! I was really expecting a boy this time, because of all of the patterns I thought I had developed with the previous babies. We didn’t have out hearts set on a boy, but it was just what I expected. I looked up and said “It’s a girl!” in surprise to Nelson, and he said “Are you sure?” with a big smile on his face. Then he helped me look and confirm what I had felt.

She was crying loudly right from the moment of birth, and was covered with lots of vernix. They helped me sit up in the pool better so that I could hold her, and then covered me with a towel so that everyone could come in and see her. With our whole family in the room plus Mom, Pat, and Granny, we told them that we had a girl and that her name was Harmony. We hadn’t chosen a middle name yet. Matthew cut the umbilical cord after a few minutes and then we had everyone leave the room again so that I could get out and breastfeed her on the bed. What a perfect little girl – and now we have 3 girls in a row for the first time!

My reflections on this birth: I had used some Hypnobirthing techniques with my last 2 babies and thought they helped me a lot with relaxation during my births. This time I chose to use Hypnobabies, after reading a lot about how much better it was. I went through the home study course starting at about 30 weeks or so. I gained a lot of confidence through the techniques I learned, but my biggest worry was whether or not it would really work when the time of birthing came. I alternated between excitement and apprehension during the last few weeks of pregnancy. So once my labor started, I was unsure of myself but I had committed to following the instructions and continuing to use the techniques all through the labor even if I didn’t feel like it. I was very happy that the first several hours of labor didn’t feel like labor at all, and it was very exciting when Nelson checked me at 7:30 AM and found out how much progress I had already made. Alisa and the others commented on my demeanor as well, saying that this was the most peaceful birth they had seen me have.

So did I feel pain? Well, I can honestly say that I really didn’t feel any true pain until right at the end, maybe the last 10 minutes before the birth. The pain I did feel was mostly in my lower back right at the end when Harmony was moving down. And even then, a lot of my feelings were in my mind as I was feeling a need to escape and didn’t keep control of my relaxation as well as I could have. I did not feel any pain as she was coming out. For the rest of the labor, I think that my Hypnobabies training helped me to reframe the sensations I was feeling. With each contraction I remember asking myself, “Is this pain?” And each time, I was able to honestly answer “No, it’s just pressure, it’s not pain.” And because of Hypnobabies, I really felt it that way! It was a very peaceful birth, even though it was my longest one yet, and it was also the first one that I didn’t scream right at the end when the baby was crowning. I am very happy with my Hypnobabies experience and will recommend it to others!